Once again the Etnerprise finds itself the arbiter in a long standing feud where a race of looters has developed when they have been disenfranchised by the planetary powers. It is right that the comfortable sustaining culture reach out to these people, even though they are sort of like pirates or barbarians. They have taken on the role of traffickers in stolen goods and see the sitting culture as oppressive and disinterested. Picard and the crew are determined to do something about this without messing with the prime directive. The leader of the planet, a matriarch who is waited on by a young woman who has no say in her own life agrees, much to her chagrin, to go about negotiating. Well, there's a fly in the ointment in that the young woman is a member of a clan who is set on murdering the scavengers in retribution for things that happened years ago. She can transmit a virus that kills almost instantly. Riker is interested in her, perhaps romantically, but also because of her lack of will. Will must make a really grave choice eventually and many have discussed this already. It's a solid episode.
Review of The Vengeance Factor
